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WILLIAM A. SUTTON, Or NEW YORK, N. Y., AND EUGENE CROWELL,.

`Orsini FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.. l I

team Patent No. 87,077, daad-February 1o, 1869.

mantovano-:INT m' were.

To all whom 'it may concern: g

Be it known that we,WILL1AMA. SUTTON, ot the city, county, and State of New York, and EUGENE ,OROWELL, of the city of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco, and State of California, have inwhich the traction is eiected.

vented a new and useful Improvement in Elevated Railways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specifica tion, and in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation ot' a section of an elevated railway, with our improvement or improvements applied thereto; v Figure 2, an end elevation' Of the same; and

Figure 3, a view of a sprocket and friction or brakewheel used in establishing connection with the rope by Similar letters of rference indicate corresponding parts.

rlhis improvement relates to elevated and. other railways on which the cars are drawn by an endless rope set in motionrby stationary'power.'A

First, the invention consists in a combination of a brake and brake and'sprocket'wheels, carried by the car,

so arranged and operating as that, while thev sprocket-r wheel is free to rotate, when the brake is o, or during motion, is so hung asto be capable of an independent lateral movement, to facilitate the picking up and plalcing of the rope on or over the sprocket-wheel.

vThirdly, the invention embraces, in combination with suoli a rope-lifter, a sliding or lateral-adjusting arrangement of the sprocket or rope-gearing wheel.

Fourthly,'the inventionincludes a combination of a rope take-off orshifter with a slidingor laterally-nd,- justable sproeketor rope-gearingwheel.

Referring to the accompanying drawinga a, represent the rails of an4 elevated or overhead street-railway, on whichlears A A are v'erran'gcdto run,

through vtraction of' an endless rope, B, passing over drums at the ends of a section, and set in motion by any suitable stationary driving-power.

This endlessrope B is formed or provided, throughon a-horizontal shait, D, said wheel being pitched to accord or gear with the knots b on the rope, so that,- when said wheel is allowed to run free or rotate, and the upper line or length of the rope arranged -over such wheel, the knots b will fallinto pitch, or gearwith it; but the rotation of said wheel by the rope is not used to produce traction of the car, which remains station- 'ary under a free run lof said wheel'.A

To establish traction, the wheel 0 from rotating, so that the connection of the car with. vthe'ropeI is, by means of' the knots b and sprocket' character of said wheel, a fixed or positive one, as eontradistinguished from a mere or direct frictional hold. on the rope, which is apt to hafe and wear the I latter.

lTo prevent'severe shock or strain, however, such connection of -the carwith the rope, while the latter is in rapid motion, should be made and broken in a grad- 11s-lor easyma'nner. 1'

` This is done by gradually applying or letting oil the -I friction, which serves, to hold the wheel stationary,

through means of a brake, E, operated .by a rod, F,

- from the platform ofthe car, and biting on or against a wheel, G, attached -to the shaft .D of the wheel O.

It is desirable to give to the sprocket-wheel C, a sliding or lateral adjustment, relatively to the rope, to place it in line with or-away from Athe latter, to facilitate the putting on and taking off of the rope, and to keep said wheelout of gear with the rope, when the car is required to remain at rest, so as to avoid 'objectionable wear of said wheel at its. shaft inthe bearings. Thus the shaft D, which carries the wheels C and G, is made capable of a longitudinal-sliding motion, by means of a lever, H, operated from the platform.

Said shaftlD is only arranged to extend half way or lpartially across the car, sothat the one side or face of the wheel C is free, and presentano obstruction to the passage of the rope over or acrossit,- in putting-the/- latter on and of. To put the rope on vthe wheel O, we employ arope-v lifter, made up of a'sheave, c, attachedto a lever, I,

whichis also arranged to-be operated-from theplatform, and is pivoted, as at d,.to a vertically-sliding lack, J, that is raised or lowered by rotating, throughv a cranlrlor handle, a pinion, K, a pawl, e, and ratchet-A 4wh`eel, f, serving to bold the 'rope-litter at its raised or lowered positions. A,

supposing the .rope B to. be o the wheel-0, andit be required to put iton the same, then, the brake E- 'having been slackened, so Vas, to leave the wheel ()l free is locked, o'heid to rotate, and -saidwheelpreferably drawn toene side, by means of the lever VHfthe pinion'K is rotated, to lower the rack J, till 'the sheave c be `lsliilciently de '.1

out its length, with knots, protuberan'ces, Or bosses, b, of the same as or any diii'erent material'to the rope, which is of a univer-sally-tiexible charactenas contra.

distinguished from a chain, said knots or protuberahces being arranged at short, regular distances apartf f The car or cars A Acarry a sprocket-wheel, 0, hung',

pressed,'fso that, by proper manipulation of the-lever Lit istiought under the npperwrunorlength f the rope, vand`, on turning the pinion 'K1 in a reverse direcltion, to raise the rack, said sheave madeto holdthe -rope over the plane'iu which the wheel O stands when the car is in motion, whereby, on adjusting said wheel back to'such position, supposing it to have been slid therefrom, and lowering the sheavec, through the rack J, the ropqis dropped into gear with such wheel, and the sheave" c released from contact with the rope. Friction, through the brake E, is then gradually ap plied to wheel G, till the wheel O,`wh'i ch previously rotated with the speed of therope, is locked, or brought to a state oi' rest, and the positive connection-with the rope thereby established, motion having been gradually communicated to the car' during the process of putting on the brake. v

ATo disconnect a car from the continuously-travelling rope, the brake is as gradually slacked off, and a tapering sheave, e, operated by a lever, L, made to catch un` der the rope, and to lift and force it to the oi side ot' i the wheel O. This lremoves the rope from the wheel C, after which a reverse movement is given to the leverL and itssheave, e, so as to drop the rope.`

From this description, it will beperceived that everyfacility is afforded for connecting or disconnecting cars at any point on the route, without that frictional wear or ohafing o i the continuously-travelling rope which attaches to adirect frictional hold on it, and without a sudden jerk or-strain.

Instead of the k otted rope B, a chain may be used. What is here claiincd, and desired toI be scoured by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination of the sprocket\vheel C and brake, applied hold the same, withthe endless rope B, having knots, collars, or protuberances, b, on it,

essentially as herein set forth.

2. The rope-lifter, constructed, substantially as de` gscribed, of a sheave, @carried by a lever, I, which is i pivoted to a rack, J, operated by a pinion, K, essentially as herein set forth7 3. The combination, with a rope-'liften constructed to operate substantially as described, of the sprockeb livheel'G, arranged to haveva sliding motion or lateral adjustment relative to ther-ope, essentially as f.-pecified. 4. The rope take-off or shifter c L, in combination with the sprocket-wheel C, arranged to have lateral adjustment relatively to the rope, substantially as de scribed.

WILLIAM-A. SUTTON. Witnesses: EUGENE GROWELL.

FRANCIS L. TIFFT, HENRY PALMER. 

